Union Walk, Leamington

Union Walk, 1960s.
Warwickshire County Record Office reference PH659

If I had a penny for every time that had happened, I would be a millionaire.

Or so the old saying goes.

With inflation, this is now probably one pound, but the sentiment remains the same insomuch as because a certain thing has happened so often, even having a small amount of money for each occurrence would make you rich!

How many people remember the railings across Union Walk, between Fretton’s the motorcycle shop and the Great Western pub?

The railings were mounted on top of a low brick wall, with a narrow gate at the Fretton’s end. So many people had stood on this low wall as they went through the gate that the top course of bricks had worn into a crescent shape right down to the course below. The wall was made of blue bricks which are harder than ordinary bricks, so just imagine how many times the wall must have been stood on to have worn away like that.  It must have been literally millions of times!

Union Walk

Union Walk originally ran from Clements Street to Court Street, with a spur off towards the canal. Along with Court Street, Althorpe Street, White Street, etc, it was swept away in the “slum” clearance program of the 1960s.  This turned what had been a vibrant community into rather bleak landscape of light industrial units and car parks.

The photo shows the part of Union Walk that ran behind Clemens Street towards the canal. It was taken in the early 1960s and the gate was off to the right. It does make you wonder if any thought what so ever was given to the possibility of bringing the homes up to modern standards and so keeping the community together.

It is also interesting to note that after 50 years there are plans afoot to return part of the area to residential use.

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